My family, footy team and Dream Team all ran into a bit of trouble in Melbourne this week. Like Roy, Warnie and Calvin, the kids, the missus and I are stranded in Melbourne after coming over for the Queen’s Birthday clash at the G. My Dees were demoralisingly smashed in that game, of course, and my Dream Team – Merv Gray Autos – suffered a smiliar fate in most of my leagues, including a particularly hard-to-swallow loss to m0nty in the DT Talk All-Stars league.

In hard times like these, I like to turn to my favourite punk-rock singer, Rise Against’s Tim McIlrath, and his words of solace: “Help Is On The Way“. For my family, that’s coming in the form of a flight by an airline prepared to fly below the Chilean ash cloud. For the Dees, that’ll be the return of Mark Jamar. And for the Autos, with a midfield “boasting” Joel Selwood, Dane Swan, Scott Pendlebury, Sam Mitchell, Scott Thompson and Matty Boyd, the help on the way is likely to be a fellow Tasmanian in the form of dual-position midfield-forward Ian Callinan. (Finally he gets to the bit that’s rookie-related!)

The introduction this year of a new AFL team, byes, four extra trades and three more bench spots has seen me break all sorts of tried-and-true DT rules, including picking mid-pricers, trading keepers and bringing in rookies after their first price rise. Despite the fact that I’ve paid dearly for each of those decisions, I’m considering going against another Golden Rule of DT this week (depending on the what happens to some of my fringe players at the selection table tomorrow afternoon), and bringing in a player before he’s even played a game at AFL level, let alone two. Callinan looks to be at least another couple of weeks away from a debut game with the Adelaide Crows after his encouraging return from a bicep injury through the SANFL on the weekend. It’s a huge risk, as a couple of less-than-scintilating performances could well mean that Callinan misses out on AFL action this year altogether (Those who know the Rise Against song well will be aware that, in the end, the help never came). However, a bargain-basement price, dual-positioning and the likelihood of games down the track in a team whose season is cooked is a pretty tempting cocktail.

Anyway, my lap-top filled with relevant rookie stats is a large body of water away, so I’ll skip the three-or-more gamers and the one gamers this week and just highlight the all-important two gamers before asking for your mid-season review of rookies. Get involved.

Two gamers

While the Pies-Dees game was a bit of a write-off from a Melbourne supporter’s point of view, it did give me the chance to get a good look at some of the young Red And Blue coming through. Forward Jerermy Howe was one of very few Demons having a real crack on Monday, working hard across half-forward to give his midfielders a marking option. A score of 75 from a forward in a well-beaten side was a good result and, after his first-up 86 against Essendon, I’d be backing Howe to continue to produce scores around the 60-70 mark with some consistency, given his endeavour. The other Demon playing his second game was Max Gawn, a 207cm ruckman who was never really in DT consideration, but even less so with Mark Jamar set to return this week or next. Melbourne defender James Strauss is not technically on the bubble, having played twice last season, but he’s on the verge of his first price rise this year. I’d steer clear, given his lack of job security and high price. A defender worth considering could be Carlton’s Zach Tuohy, who played well and scored well in the Blues’ big win against Brisbane. The problem was, just about everyone in dark blue was in the same boat on Saturday, making Tuohy’s 75-point performance less remarkable. Given the improved depth at Carlton this year, I’d be concerned about his js, too. I could bang on about St Kilda’s Tom-Toms (Ledger and Simpkin) and while they were good, they once again shared the substitutes vests in a worrying trend. Essendon’s Alex Browne is a risk for the same reason – he copped the green vest for the second consecutive week (scoring just 21 points in a half of footy after replacing Dustin Fletcher). As I said, I’d rather pick an $80k fwd-mid who hasn’t played yet.

Mid-Season Rookie Review

Okay, copy and paste this in the comments to let us know who your Rook-stars have been this year.

Im thinking this wk downgrading matera to howe and then upgrading lynch to stevie j. i have the money to do this, but i could go some cheaper options and save cash such as rioli, okeefe, chappy, syliva, and pavilich. Should i go all out and get stevie j or go someone cheaper?

Hey lads
First team dream teamer from Ireland was going along pretty well, still in eliminator and doing well in my league
but now everything has gone belly
This was my team last week
Was hoping to finish off my forward but now it’s all f**ked!
Backs
Gibbs Goddard Suckling Stanley
Enright Shaw Adcock
(L.Thompson, Puopolo,Jacobs)
Mids
Curnow Heppell Boyd
Mundy Selwood Pendlebury
(Swan, Mzungu, Montagna)
Rucks
Cox , Smith
( Sandilands, M.Curnow)
Fwds
N Riewoldt, Johnson Goodes Franklin, Knights, Petrie, krak
( Howe, Lynch, C,Richardson)
Midfield is a disaster zone
So could be copping few donuts!
Have only 5k in the bank so was thinking
L Thompson to Zach tuohy
And then mundy to Mitchell/G.Ablett
Can only afford to get rid of one of my mods this week
Defo don’t have the luck of the Irish
Any ideas on how to fix this or am I just screwed

If you trade both Mundy and Selwood the only donut youll be looking at is one in the ruck, unless Heppell is rested which could happen. Put Howe on for Krak and Puopolo and Jacobs on for Shaw and Adcock.

I take that back, even if Heppell is out you can switch him back and field thompson. You have to ge rid of selwood and mundy because not only are they out for extended periods, but they are taking up spots which can easily get 100+. some combos for Selwood and Mundy are:
Mitchell and one of Bartel/Rockliff
Bartel and one of Thompson/Judd

Mundy > I.Smith – He will play, it’s just a matter of time (next couple of weeks), he went well on the weekend in the VFL, plus it frees up $255,600 for future upgrades and gives you another FWD/MID link.

Selwood > Premium (Ablett or Mitchell or whoever?)

This all being said, wait for the teams to be announced first before making any trades, Monty may get a gig so see if he’s named. Otherwise net some cash, and look to upgrade Lynch to Sylvia next week when he bottoms out.

Lots of teams are going to have a donut somewhere, just hope the 21 scores heavily. Smith is outscoring most of those ruckmen you mentioned anyway by 20-30 pts. Trades are crucial right now. Maybe downgrade sandi? Bit too late for that now though.

Yeah, sort of kicking myself with what I did with rucks this year. Went Hale to Broc, Broc didn’t play again and missing DPP now.
Wish I’d gotten rid of Sandi, if he isn’t back til round 16, thats still 3 games away. Just wish there were more downgrade options, they are useless this year in the rucks!!

Best rookie cashcow: As much as it’s a bit of an insult, Curnow would have to get the gig. Ended up cashing him in when he got injured, qhich qualifies as a cash cow, but would have been more than happy to finish the season with him, if other rookies were’nt the runt of the litter.

Best rookie defender: Lower

Best rookie midfielder: Curnow, who I traded in for Goddard r2. Harris screwed me over, when I traded someone else out with less money making potential, only to score a 28 or some tripe. Illes, who I was prepared to carry for the first month, pulls some shit scores right before he’s ready to be cashed in. Those two cost me an extra premium in my forward line.

Best rookie ruck: Smith

Best rookie forward: Darling

Any rookies who’ll be keepers: Darling, Lower, Smith, Krakoeur. Will probably end up upgrading the forwards this week, or when a good deal pops up.

Biggest rookie disappointment: As much as I’d like to blame Coad for the season ending Hammy, I’d probably have to go with his replacement, Toy. This guy was talked up as a worthy rookie pre season, and has only managed to play 4 games in a mug side. Actually, as I type this, Richardson comes to mind. Put up pretty good PS numbers, and then gets aced after 4, never to be seen again. Failure

Thinking Knights to O Keefe, as he has bye in round 19 and can help with DPP link plus I have no Sydney players in so will help. Got too many Hawks and Dockers players so holding off on Rioli and Fyfe.

Or Knights to Le Cras. Unique but no DPP however got Port Adelaide and could rise even more, just conerned that up against Carlton, St Kilda and Geelong in the month they play them that he will go missing.

I’m going to trade Selwood for obvious reasons and I’m tossing up between Swan and Mitchell…Mitchell because he’s been in good touch,plays GC twice and I think this round could be the round to catch up on the leading teams as there’s so many players out (I’m 251st) and Swan because he should be injury free, has his byes out the way and will be refreshed and raring to go- only con with Swan is he may get rested just before finals- same could be said for Mitchell…THOUGHTS???

gotta go someone different i reckon….the 250 people in front most likely have mitchell/gablett too so how are you gonna chase them down when you all score the same…be unique….Rischetelli is mister consistent, Shiels is only in 5% of teams and guys like Rockliff and Redden are pretty unique too. thats just my opinion :)

I recon you should be looking at the car. If so, I think Mitchell is a better option.

Im a pies fan and a keen swanny watcher. He just isn’t going about it the same way he did last year. He just isn’t himself, not tackling at all, his scores are being saved because of goals, but he is well down in marks and tackles which is worrying. When he comes back it will probably still take a few weeks before those 120-140 scores. (hopefully)

It might sound silly and look a little weird and be a little too left field for some1 in your position, but Dale Thomas could be a good choice. Plenty of marks, tackles can kick a goal and is getting more and more of the footy as the year goes on.

I dont normally reply on this, but i always consider your advice as it runs similar to my thoughts. Good Luck, hope you make the right choice.

Thanks for your opinion and regarding Adcock>???, I have him,Shaw and Suckling myself. I’d stay away from the Freo duo as nobody seems to know where they’re going to play on a week to week basis. Shaw has proved to be inconsistent the last few weeks (going back to 2010 form) and Suckling is all over the shop. Birchall is the only one who has scored over 90 the last 6 weeks. If I could turn back the clock I would rather have got Birchall over my chosen players. Verdict=Birchall, not as high a ceiling but consistent.

I feel it’s time for me to pounce in me league and overall and cash in this week.
Considering downgrading z smith to tippet, if Bailey is not named. I then swap Petrie into the rucks and bring Howe or I smith onto the ground. I trade mundy out for ablett. It means playing puopolo for advock and mzungu and Evans/ lies for swan pendlebury. I have sandy so losing smith is not that important as once sandi is back Petrie can go back.
Am I being silly??

due to zac smith being rested this week, im forced to trade out sandilands and im looking to downgrade. Who has better Job security out of Nathan Vardy and Andrew Browne? Who is more likely to score better aswell? Both same price btw. Anyone know much of these two?

found out early cos mckenna said it in an interview hes definitely not playing. thoughts would be greatly appreciated. Everyone seems to be getting or already has vardy if downgrading, but andrew browne has been scoring better. Im considering him.